Who caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaares. Do you want to see GSF increase in activity or not? If the answer is yes then they HAVE to make the entry barrier 10 times easier and encourage alt-GSFing. No one gives a crap about 3 years old "exclusivity" of a sub reward seriously.

I hate to break it to you, but giving out ships won't bring more people into GSF. That is why they are increasing req, and reducing costs.

If they want to help GSF with alts, then they need to do one simple thing. Faction Wide hangers. This may also help with getting people past that barrier, because it won't be per character anymore. The reason this will work better is once a ship is mastered, every character (in that faction) on your account will have it mastered. So you can fly on any character you desire.

I hate to break it to you, but giving out ships won't bring more people into GSF. That is why they are increasing req, and reducing costs.

If they want to help GSF with alts, then they need to do one simple thing. Faction Wide hangers. This may also help with getting people past that barrier, because it won't be per character anymore. The reason this will work better is once a ship is mastered, every character (in that faction) on your account will have it mastered. So you can fly on any character you desire.

Of course it won't magically increase the activity on its own. But it's part of the necessary solution, along with granting "welfare" requisition pack, legacy hangars etc.

It's kind of a shame that the first sliver of GSF news we get in over 3 years is already being received with some derisive commentary. It'd be nice if people could take a pause from the same old nitpicking and simply acknowledge that we are finally seeing something from the Devs after such an agonizingly long time.

I think most of us have learned to quell our optimism for any new development on GSF, but maybe this small move is a precursor of better things to come. Will bug fixes be next? I'm starting to get curious about Keith's pending roadmap. Dare to dream...

Whatever the case it would seem there is an uptick in people playing GSF and Keith is starting to find ways to improve it's playability to the casual player.

Yeah it sucks for those of us who bought our bomber but getting one wasn't nearly as hard as upgrading it. If Keith is reading this thread I hope he knows one of the very best things you can do for GSF is create a couple of new maps preferably around the robotic planet of Iokath or Odessen.

Well you can get a Gunship and Bomber right after doing the introduction mission. You get 5k req and can buy the 2500 req bomber and 2500 req GS.

Yes, but the reality is that a lot of players don't know to use that 5000 fleet requisition in that manner.

The proposal is a form of hand holding, and maybe in some ways its better to let a person stumble a few times and scrape themselves a bit rather than pushing them in a wheelchair everywhere. The problem here is that its far too easy to fall into the trap of using the fleet req either to upgrade your existing ships (which, for most players at this stage are likely only the T1 scout and T1 strike) or buy a single higher tier ship that may or may not be effective in the meta: "Hey I LOVE the engines and wings on that Clarion ship, it looks just like an x-wing, let me spend my fleet req on THAT." Given the types of comments I see in the chat when I watch twitch streams of various streamers, and the people that write into, or perhaps are guests, even hosts, of podcasts, I think its safe to say that the majority of people who play do not read the forums.

Regarding GSF, I think its safe to say 60-80% of new players to GSF do not read the forums and have no idea what the meta is or how to upgrade their ships correctly. They would have no idea how ineffective strikes are, let alone how bad some of the stock T3 strike components are (not that stock T1 bombers are any better configured, but I digress.) Think about it: if all you had to go on were the flavor text descriptions of each ship in your hangar, and you just got this windfall of requisition, and you were new to GSF, it would feel natural to upgrade your stock strike. Most people, newly jumping in to GSF, would try flying a strike first and upgrading it first because they'd assume it is tankier, and more forgiving, than a scout, or any of the other tier 1 ships. Its too easy to spend requisition, and it is well within the purview of developers to either steer players away from bad choices that are disguised as appealing lore-based flavor descriptions, or make adjustments to the component menu, so that people don't start down the path of unlocking and upgrading charged plating on a T1 strike.

It's kind of a shame that the first sliver of GSF news we get in over 3 years is already being received with some derisive commentary. It'd be nice if people could take a pause from the same old nitpicking and simply acknowledge that we are finally seeing something from the Devs after such an agonizingly long time.

I think most of us have learned to quell our optimism for any new development on GSF, but maybe this small move is a precursor of better things to come. Will bug fixes be next? I'm starting to get curious about Keith's pending roadmap. Dare to dream...

Yeah, its being met with derisive comments, because other then in the increase req and reduced costs, they're not making it better in any way. All they're doing is saying, "Have some free ships new characters." That's not what GSF needs. GSF needs new ship classes, new maps, and new battle modes. That's what GSF needs.

Yes I am aware that 5.2.2 is not a major patch, but all these changes could have waited for 5.3, and had all or some of what I listed above, in addition to this, and no one would have complained about not getting this measly little req buff sooner.

Yeah, its being met with derisive comments, because other then in the increase req and reduced costs, they're not making it better in any way. All they're doing is saying, "Have some free ships new characters." That's not what GSF needs. GSF needs new ship classes, new maps, and new battle modes. That's what GSF needs.

That depends on your point of view, doesn't it? If you are strictly talking about veterans, who only play the game for GSF, then sure, GSF needs all those things.

But if you are talking about new player retention, I think these are improvements for which people have asked. There is at least one thread a week about the gear gap, or some variation on that theme.

I agree with you that GSF could use the infiltrators (re?)introduced, a new map, a new game mode, but it also needs some improvements to be new player friendly. These changes are for the latter, because they are low hanging fruit. When, for example, there are at least as many simultaneous twitch streams about GSF as there are about ground pvp, then they might decide to invest some time into the deeper changes you mention.

Take for example JoeNeverFails. He's got over a hundred people watching his stream at any given time and hundreds of followers. In the summer when the expansion to FFXIV comes out he will be playing that in place of or in addition to SWTOR. But right now he streams SWTOR 8-12 hours a day. This is how advertising and marketing and promotion takes place these days. If he shows a stream where he is piloting and enjoying himself, other people may try it to. We already know more people are playing it because the CXP and UC yield is great. They didn't come to try it out because there is a new map, or a new ship class, they came out to try it because the right carrot was dangled in front of their faces. Bioware can keep them if they don't feel completely useless every time they enter a match.

I used to be like you. I used to think double requisition weeks/weekends never did anything for GSF playerbase size. I thought the tie-in to the ground game with conquest would help the playerbase. Maybe it did somewhat. I used to reply to threads stating what GSF needed was more rewards: stronghold decorations, armor appearances, titles, etc. I thought last summer's DvL event before 5.0 launched would get more participation. Again, like conquest, a modest effect.

Then I saw what happened when the right incentive was presented along with a prolonged double xp/double CXP/double req event. Its our version of a magical happening really, a renaissance for GSF.

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The statements and opinions expressed on these websites are solely those of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, nor are they endorsed by Bioware, LucasArts, and its licensors do not guarantee the accuracy of, and are in no way responsible for any content on these websites.